An Accidental Valentine
by MzMocha
Summary: A two-shot Sexis tale. With Sonny is looking at the possibility of real prison time, he's trying his best to tie up loose ends. And that includes his feelings for Alexis.
1. Chapter 1

**An Accidental Valentine**

**Chapter 01**

Alexis should be glad he waited until after dinner before dropping off his Valentine's Day chocolates for Kristina and Molly, Sonny thought to himself as he drove up to the lake house. He'd called earlier in the day and spoken with both young ladies, promising them a surprise later on. When they protested the wait, he joked with them that he was just keeping in line with what their mother wanted. Dessert came after dinner. That's what their mother wanted. And these days, what Alexis wanted was no longer a problem.

He smiled to himself, even if it was a kind of sad one. He and Alexis had finally gotten to a place where he wasn't the devil incarnate, and she wasn't an overprotective shrew. After way too long, they were in a place where they could put the needs of the girls first and their past second. It was a good place.

A place he was about to lose.

The smile fell from his face. Sonny shook his head. How did everything go so wrong so fast?

What would Alexis call it? His mind searched for the word.

_Hubris_.

His never ending arrogance. Taking what he wanted, when he wanted. Including a life.

The life of his son.

Sonny closed his eyes against the enormity of that action. And the consequences were no less than he had deserved. The Feds were sure they had him this time. Even though it was for a crime he hadn't committed - Claudia's death - and wasn't that ironic? And his new-found son - Dante Falconeri - wanted nothing to do with him.

So now he would go to his daughter and his niece, give them chocolate and hugs and surprises, hoping for now to avoid their questions and worries. And maybe, just maybe, he could do the same for himself - for just a little while longer.

Before he lost it all.

Caught up in his thoughts while trying to juggle the presents in his arms, Sonny didn't notice that there was another car in the driveway besides Alexis'. He walked up and rang the bell.

The first thing he did notice was that Alexis was unusually flustered when she opened the door.

"Hey, Alexis, I'm not late or anything, so what's with the looks..." His words trailed off as the reason for her agitation became clear.

Mac Scorpio.

Mac Scorpio with an opened present in his hand. Chocolate cookies from the looks of them and a smudge of chocolate at the corner of his mouth.

So who was the givee and who was the giver? Sonny wondered. He didn't realize that his gaze had gone dark.

But Mac did. And he gave back as good as he got.

Behind him, Alexis closed the door, momentarily at a loss for words. Her eyes went from one face to the other, and as she read their equally stony expressions, she moved to stand between them. What was it about men sometime? she thought in exasperation. Enough with the testorone challenges. Sonny - well, she more or less expected this kind of behavior from him - a sense of misplaced possessiveness had always been one of his less-than-admirable traits. But Mac too…? She sighed and mentally shook her head.

Men.

"Sonny… Mac stopped by with a surprise…" she stopped, realizing that an explanation would be somewhat less than helpful at this moment. And after all, she didn't owe him one anyway.

"I can see that." Sonny said. He forced his gaze away from the police commissioner and onto Alexis' face. "But I was expected, wasn't I?" He knew he was sounding like an arrogant ass - but he couldn't bring himself to care. It was like other things were more important. He wouldn't be around to stop anything from happening in the future, but he was here today - and he had every right to be. And he didn't care who knew it - police commissioner included.

"Of course you were. We talked and the girls were looking forward to you coming by." Sonny may not be owed an explanation, but Mac didn't fall into that category. She flashed him a smile before turning back to Sonny. "They said something about a surprise?"

That smile sent Sonny's mind elsewhere for a moment - Alexis? Mac? When did this happen?...before he could process the revelation, Alexis' question jerked him back into the here and now. He shrugged, trying for an indifference he didn't quite feel.

"It's Mike. He wanted to do something with all the kids and I sort of promised I'd help him with his surprise…"

"That's a lovely idea, Sonny." Alexis said - and she meant it. She called out to the girls and a few minutes later, they appeared. Sonny gave them the baskets he'd been carrying, filled with fancy boxed chocolates, plush stuffed animals and several expensive trinkets that he'd gotten them.

Both girls oohed and ahhed over them, thanked him with hugs and kisses and showed even more excitement when he told them what surprise he had in store for them. Well, it was Molly more than Kristina that was excited; from her expression Sonny could tell she was going along more for her little sister's sake than anything else.

As Kristina took Molly's hand as they rushed off to get their coats, Sonny nodded as his gaze followed them, smiling to himself on the inside. That was good. Kristina taking care of Molly would help fill the empty spaces in her heart when everything went down.

That thought was like a dash of cold water in his face. All of a sudden all the warmth in the room seemed to get sucked right out of it, leaving a cold chill in its place. He didn't realize that the cold was all inside of him. He'd been hiding it from everyone in the last few weeks and it was important that he kept doing that now.

Mac had been silent throughout this exchange. "Maybe I should go…: he began.

"No!" The word came from the two of them simultaneously. Two pair of eyes locked for the briefest moment before falling away.

Mac looked from Alexis to Sonny, then back to Alexis again. "If you're sure…"

"I'm sure… it's…"

"No problem…" again Sonny and Alexis spoke as one. Startled by the coincidence, two pairs of startled eyes turned on one another again.

And again their gazes retreated as thankfully the girls re-entered the room. Busy chattering while they buttoned their coats, they were the only ones not to notice the sudden air of confusion filling the room.

Sonny found himself glad to leave. He didn't do confusion well at all.

**

But somehow he found himself back at Alexis' house later that night. He wanted to make sure she was alright, he told himself. The truth was that Sonny wanted to make sure that Mac had left - whether he admitted that to himself or not.

He'd come armed with an excuse, just in case he'd needed one. The kids had been baking up a storm under their grandpa's supervision. As a result, Sonny had left with a basket of his own, but his story was that he'd promised to deliver it to Alexis tonight.

That was his story and he was sticking to it.

The house was dark when he arrived, and Alexis' car the only one in the driveway. He made his way quietly to the door. Sonny hesitated, an unfamiliar indecision warring inside. The decision was made then, and he sat the basket down at the door and slowly, quietly moved away.

But he didn't return to his car right away. Sonny stood on the front deck of the lake house and drew in a deep breath of the clear night air. He'd always admired the view of the night skies from Alexis' place. The too-few times he had brought Kristina home after sunset had shown him how beautiful night skies were here, away from bright city lights. And now that it seemed as though he had no idea of how many more of these he'd have left, Sonny had found himself savoring the ones he had now.

He wondered what had drawn him back here… regret or remorse…he didn't know. All Sonny knew that ever since this whole situation had happened - with the consequences of his actions beginning to point more and more to him finally receiving payment for his many many crimes over the years, he'd been filled with an aching need to set things as right as he could before judgment day arrived.

Which was why, he supposed, he'd ended up here. Because here was his biggest regret of all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 02**

She walked up behind him, stopping a few steps away. Alexis didn't say anything, only studied him from behind. The girls had called her from Mike's asking to stay overnight with Michael and Morgan and she hadn't been able to think of a good reason to say no.

So what had brought Sonny back to her house?

As she wondered about that, she couldn't help but note the lines of defeat, of despair and despondency in the set of his shoulders. She suspected this time, he felt it to his very marrow of his bones. Alexis struggled to harden her heart against its empathetic yearnings - she didn't want to feel his pain. There was nothing she could do - nothing he could do. The facts were he'd shot a man - a police officer - and that man had survived to testify against him.

That that same man turned out to be his son was a double-blow that she doubted Sonny had recovered from yet. If he ever would. What solace could she offer that could even begin to heal that wound?

None that she could think of. And she was a lawyer. Trained to use words as a weapon or as a balm. But yet there were no words that could even begin to breach the wall of pain that she sensed was buried deep within Sonny's soul.

Silence was all she had to offer. She knew the peace her house and its surroundings could bring - it was one of the reasons she'd chosen the place herself. And if Sonny could find a little of it for himself, then she couldn't find it in herself to deny him that. And if her presence could help - just a simple human presence - well, the least she could do is offer that too.

The silence of the night wrapped them both up into its spell, weaving a calming peaceful quiet between them that neither one of them wanted to break. As time passed, it took their thoughts and sent them down along old paths to other nights where they had stood together and if they weren't side by side the way they used to be, at least they were as they used to be, once upon a time - together.

Neither of them spoke for the longest time - words could sometimes be so inadequate so they let the silence do it for them. In it, were the whispers of times gone by when they didn't have to say a word to know what the other one was thinking.

And wonders of wonders, it was happening all over again.

Sonny knew without turning to look, the moment Alexis decided to come to stand beside him.

And Alexis knew without turning to look, the moment he shifted his body to stand closer to her. She held herself still, not knowing what she could say.

"I didn't plan on coming out here and I didn't mean to bother you." Sonny still hadn't turned to look at her, even though they were standing side by side. "And if you want, I'll go."

There was a small pause before she answered. "No, you don't have to go.…" Alexis' voice was soft against the stillness of the night. "But can you tell me why you're here?

"I just wanted to see the stars." Sonny said, lifting a hand up towards the night. "I remembered how clear the stars were from here."

As he stared up into the heavens, Sonny reached out and gripped the railing with both hands. How many more nights did he have before the sight of the stars were lost to him forever?

She didn't answer and Sonny knew why without asking. Alexis got it. She always got it. She understood him, just the way she always had. He'd squandered her friendship, her presence in his life.

Which made him all the gladder to have it back now, in any way shape or form. Even if it were only for a moment. This moment might prove to be another item off of his list. The list of times, of moments and minutes he'd taken for granted with all the people that had meant something in his life and that he was now trying to fix at the last minute.

They stood there in silence for a long while. In those moments, Sonny willed himself to stop thinking. Feel - he told himself. Just feel.

He was safe here. Safe like he was nowhere else.

He closed his eyes and let the cool crisp night breeze wash across his cheek. Sonny's senses stretched outward, feeling with a new clarity the lightly textured planes of the semi-rustic wooden railing beneath his hands.

He could even feel the moonlight pooling on his skin, pressing into his pores and past his defenses. A milky cool feeling washed over Sonny, sweeping up and over the highest peaks of his agitated senses. But as he stood there, the heavy beating of his heart began to ebb, and instead of the icy-chill reality of Sonny's here and now, the wind that passed over him served him to scrub him clean. It eddied around him, bringing him the warmth of Alexis' body and the faintest trace of her perfume. In its wake, Sonny was left with a strange inner warmth and new-found peace that was almost like a prayer, a blessing, a benediction.

It was with this feeling welling up inside him that Sonny opened his eyes to take in the beauty of the night with new eyes. The diamond brightness of the stars above, set in their bed of deepest darkest black velvet made him ache inside. A million or more points of light, each of them solitary in the sky, each of them alone in the universe. Like him. Alone in the middle of so many people as he had been in the last few days.

Except right now. Right now, all he could think was that he didn't feel so all alone any more.

**

Alexis saw his grip tighten on the deck rail. Sonny... She found herself saying his name silently, unable to help herself. A part of her wanted to comfort him - but another, self-protective part of her reined her first intentions in.

It wasn't her place anymore, she told herself . But even as that fact washed across her consciousness, helplessly, she watched her hands as they placed themselves carefully on the rail, maybe a fingerlength's space from his.

When it came to Sonny, a part of her just couldn't help herself. Even now. Or more importantly, maybe because of now.

**

Sonny felt the warmth of her so close to him. Without warning, his memories were whirling him back to the last time this had been so. Just like this, Alexis had been there lending him her incredible strength just by being there. Just like this, there had been no need for words. Just like this, it had been the simplest thing in the world for their hands to touch...

But this time, it was Sonny who reached out. He felt a nervous start shiver through her hand as his came down over hers. But she didn't pull away.

Neither of them moved for a long, long moment. It was enough for him to just feel another's touch.

Sonny sensed her movement as she turned to look at him. But it took the space of a few heartbeats before he could summon the courage to return her questioning gaze.

For a moment, Alexis saw the fear in his eyes that few know to look for. Sonny's fear of small places and the prospect of spending the rest of his life in one.

"Why don't you run?" she asked suddenly.

Sonny forced himself not to look away. He couldn't run - for a million reasons he wouldn't run. But of all the many reasons that he couldn't run - right here, right now, there was one very important one.

"Because…" he whispered, just before his mouth came down to brush against hers. When she didn't pull away, Sonny drew her slowly into his arms, deepening the kiss.

Alexis' lips were as soft as he remembered.

Sonny's mouth was as sweet as she remembered.

Past and present got all jumbled up in that kiss. Pain and pleasure and passion spilled over their sensibility. Alexis managed to find a tiny particle of sensibility still remaining to her after that sensual onslaught and found the strength from somewhere to end the kiss. She took a shaky step backwards and Sonny let her go.

"I don't want to make another mistake." she said. Alexis didn't know how much her eyes were shining in the moonlight or how passion had softened her voice, sending a shiver whipping across Sonny's senses.

"It wasn't a mistake the first time, and it isn't one now." Sonny's didn't know how emotion had roughened his voice and sent an intensity into his gaze that sent a searing jolt of feelings crashing through her.

"Just an accidental valentine?" she asked.

"Ain't nothing accidental about it." His voice was a heavy growl. Sonny's hands found their way to her shoulders, holding them tightly. "Overdue, maybe. But accidental? No. Never."

It seemed as though his hands had a will of their own. They slid slowly up to cup her face, to trace its outlines as though to memorize her features for all eternity. Her skin was pale porcelain in the moonlight, her lips like the finest silk beneath his fingertips. They had tasted like starlight and spun sugar. "There's no more time for mistakes for me, Alexis."

And that truth made everything else - pride, sensibilities, ought tos and should nots, their past and present - meaningless. Last year, last month, last week, this could have never happened. But now?..in the now, beneath the lonely stars and in the pale moonlight, with reality staring them in the face and reminding them that time was such a finite thing, all things, all miracles could happen.

Alexis took a hesitant step forward just as Sonny did. And then they were in each other's arms. Because they had always been in each other's hearts.


End file.
